Old Stories, New Yarns 2012 Beanie Festival Competition

The challenge in 2012 is to tell a yarn or express stories through your work. Explore your own heritage. What tales are important to your family? Be inspired by mythological creatures and heroines. Dream of your favourite bedtime story. Let your imagination find new details to share. The exhibition was open Friday June 22- Sunday July 17 2012

People's Prize The favourite beanie of 2012. Nancy Hall, A Bunch of Budgies

Competition Categories1 Family Yarns - Express your family heritage. Look back to the generations who have come before you and share the story in a beanie. Celebrate a textile technique used by your grandma's grandma- or make a head dress from your own culture. Express a story that explains something about who you are personally or the country you come from.

3 Favourite Bedtime Yarn Remember being tucked up in bed and hearing or reading a story that transported you. The characters, the faraway places, the imaginary friends. Bring them back to life in your favourite beanie.

From the JudgesThe array of beanies submitted for the competition delighted us in the judging process. We all felt honoured to have the opportunity to handle the gorgeous textiles. Thankyou to all those who submitted stories- it was wonderful hearing about family and country. We were drawn across the landscape, from the sea to the red heart of Australia. So many pieces made us laugh. We paraded in helmets and wore monsters. We loved the tiny details- knitted mice, exquisite embroidery, extraordinary beading, and gorgeous felting. There were not so many hand spun pieces this year, something we wondered at. However the pieces spun at Ernabella on the Pitjantjara spindle were beautiful.There was wonderful work from the Indigenous communities around Alice Springs. The work from Tangentyere was a new development and we are expecting great things in the future. The competition is hotly contested. So many of the works were executed with a high level of skill and with strong concepts, both serious and humorous. Most were also wearable and we were impressed by the balance and weight of some of the larger pieces. Brilliant work beanie makers. It was extremely hard to choose. We loved all the work and so did the crowds who lined up patiently to see it on opening night.Judges Lesley Eastwell, Merran Hughes, Barb Kurr, Brian TuckerGallery One, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs Cultural Precinct, Larapinta Drive, Alice Springs